From Eternity to Here – God is Looking for Living Stones to Build Together

(Post 12 of  “From Eternity to Here” by Frank Viola, through Chapter 15)

When you get to the New Testament, God is done with pictures and shadows about his house.  The reality has arrived and is revealed.  For His house is not a thing, an object, a metaphor, a doctrine or a theology.  His house is a person. It is God in humanity and humanity in God.  It is the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:9).  He is its cornerstone (Eph. 2:20, I Peter 2:6); the main stone of the building that aligns and unites all of the other living stones.

The Construction of Living Stones

Instead of dwelling in an inanimate tabernacle as in the Old Testament, God now dwelt in a human body (John 1:14, 2:19-21).  Then, he explained that God would dwell in other human bodies who were turned from dead stones into living stones by the Holy Spirit (John 3).  Remember Jacob’s dream about heaven and earth being connected by a ladder, and when he woke up, he poured oil on the stone that he had laid his head upon?  That’s all a picture of what Jesus is explaining in John 3.  That God would make his house and dwell in living stones.  God’s intention is to build living stones together in every city to form the Lord’s true habitation all over the earth. Scattered stones can never make a house, no matter how many of them exist.

The Shadow Has Faded

Remember in the Old Testament how Jerusalem was the building site for God’s house?  Now that the real house had arrived, that shadow had faded off into the distance.  The Jewish temple in Jerusalem had become a man-made institution where God did not dwell any longer, and Jesus showed that it wasn’t where God’s house was by never spending one night in Jerusalem.  He always left before sundown to stay in Bethany.  This is why Stephen was martyred.  He explained to the religious leaders that the temple of Solomon was not God’s house, but only a shadow of the real temple (Acts 7:44-50).  This got him stoned.

But the building of God’s house continued as the apostles spread across the Roman Empire and right on through the centuries.  Yes, it has had it’s ups and downs while fighting the infiltrations of human institution and tradition.  But, the last two chapters show us how God’s house will one day be completed. Here, we see God’s house moving from the invisible to the visible, from eternity to here.  Note the closing words of Scripture…

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (Rev. 21:3)

The Bride and the House

Remember how God built the bride out of Adam’s side?  And how He also built the bride of Christ out of the Son’s side?  He built them because they are buildings.  The building of God, the city of God, the temple of God, the house of God is also a bride. She is the bride of Christ, the mystery of the ages.  Behold your Lord’s ultimate passion: a bride for God the Son and a house for God the Father. And the bride and the house are the same person!

Jesus Christ did not die and rise again just to forgive you of your sins. He died in order that His Father could obtain a home. The Lord
saved you and me for a high and holy purpose.  To fulfill that purpose, you must make a decision to no longer be an independent, isolated living stone.  Stones that are not built together with other stones ruin good land. God is looking for stones that will abandon their Western-style individualism and live a shared life being built together under the Headship of Christ.

(Disclaimer:  The content of this post is the post author’s perspective on the book selection’s content and not the opinion of the post author.  To purchase the book, click on the link below)

From Eternity to Here by Frank Viola